London will be brought to a standstill when the visit of George W. Bush takes place under the highest security ever reserved for a foreign head of state.

According to the Guardian, a combination of last-minute road closures and a rally at Trafalgar Square by an estimated 100,000 anti-war protesters will paralyse the capital when Bush arrives on 19 November for a three-day stay in Britain. It will be the first ever state visit by an American President, who will be the guest of the Queen for the duration of his stay.

Whitehall sources have confirmed that the itinerary for the visit has still not been finalised, and officials on both sides of the Atlantic say that a visit which places the American President, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II in the same place calls for an unprecedented level of protection.

And there will be protests. The centrepiece being a huge march on 19 November arranged by the Stop the War Coalition which will go through the capital and end at Trafalgar Square, where a giant statue of George Bush will be pulled down in a parody of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad. It will be led by American nationals living in the UK who have gathered under the title Expats Against Bush. They will carry banners reading 'Proud of my nation. Shamed by my President'.

'The very best that George Bush can hope for is to be taken around in a helicopter and kept inside the American Embassy, Whitehall and Buckingham Palace,' said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition. 'There will be no clapping crowds.'

Demonstrators believe that the rumours about their actions have led to a change in President Bush's itinerary and that a planned procession down the Mall has been cancelled because of fear of embarrassment.